Called ‘bramble’ or brymbyl in old English and ‘brombeere’ in German, the ancient Anglo-Saxons baked brambleberries into primitive pies to celebrate the first fruit feast of Lughnasadh at the beginning of August.
Blackberries are native to Asia, Europe. North America, Australia, Africa and South America and have the most widespread geographic origin of any fruit crop.
It follows that blackberries grown in specific regions are largely derived from species indigenous to those regions and no singles species dominates world production.
Blackberries have been used in Europe for over 2000 years; they are consumed as food, employed for medicinal purposes, and planted in hedgerows to keep out intruders.
Medicinally, Galen prescribes a decoction of blackberries, while Palladius gives a recipe for diamoron, blackberry syrup, made with two parts juice to one part honey.
The blackberry is not consistently distinguished in Greek from the mulberry, a superficially similar fruit.
Ancient Greek relied on blackberry to treat gout. And it was so influential in Europe that well into the 18th century, the fruit was called goutberry.
10th century Arab physician considered the fruit to be aphrodisiac.
The blackberries appear to have been cultivated in Europe only a few years before they were cultivated in North America; a European cultivar was introduced into North America in 1850.
The early setters of Europe and North America found wild blackberries growing in abundance. Although some were harvested for food, the majority, because of their thorniness and vigorous growth, were look upon as a nuisance that interfered with land clearing and cultivation.
About 1930, a thornless plant of the cut leaf European blackberries was discovered.
The History of Blackberries
Food History is a resource for anybody interested in food history. Articles exploring various issues of food history will be featured regularly. Learning food history means that cultural study which involves multidisciplinary approaches from economics, sociology and demography, and even literature.
Monday, January 03, 2011
THE MOST POPULAR POSTS
-
Pancakes are ancient food. The word pancakes appears in print as early as 1430. Pancakes may have been around since Neolithic humans domest...
-
History of Appetizers and Hors d’oeuvre Appetizers and hors of d’oeuvre the latter literally meaning “outside of the work”- assume a wide v...
-
5000 B.C. Wheat flour, believed to originate in the Middle East, serves as the basis of the first “noodles.” Chinese ate pasta as early as 5...
-
Falafel is an ancient dish that has been popular in Egypt and now the rest of the Middle East. The history of falafel goes back to the days ...
-
Maggi is owned by Nestlé: seasonings are their main products. Maggi really grew on its dehydrated soups-an instant food at the start of the ...
-
The advent of agriculture changed the lives of the people. The Nomads started to settle, built villages and kept cattle. But even in the adv...
-
History of Milk The Holstein breed outnumbers all others used in the United States for the production of milk. Jersey and Guernsey breeds...
-
Food History The Cro-Magnon were highly skilled and inventive hunters, who varied their techniques according the season and prey. Probably t...